Sheet-delivery mechanism



IVI.. A. DROITCUUR.

SHEET DELIVERY .MECHAMSM APPucATloN man lune 1|. nsti-s.

M-. A, nnoncou'n. SHEET DELIVERY MECHANISM.

APPLlcAloN FILED JUNE 1|. 191e.

1,303,0M., Patented. May 1919.

2 SHEETSFSHEET 2.

lll

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEFIoE.

IIGHAEL A.. DROITCOUR, 0F DELPHOS, OHIO.

.SHEET-DELIVERY Meenemen.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 6, 1919.

Original application led March 8, 1918, Serial No. 221,186. Divided and this application led June 11, ,1.918.

. Serial No. 239,373.

To all 'whom t may concern',

Be it known that I, MICHAEL A. DnorrcoUR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Delphes, in the county of Van Wert and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sheet-Delivery Mechanism; and I hereby declare lthat the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification. a

r1`his application is a division' of my application for patent on sheet delivery mechanism, led March 8, 1918 Serial No. 221,186.

'lhis invention is applicable to sheetu printing presses and other machines to which the sheets are fed preferably by an automatic feeder Aand after being operated upon are automatically delivered.

The object of the invention is to feed the sheets of paper to the machine from a pile and deliver them onto a pile, so that the sheets need not behandled except in piles,.-

out disturbing the adjustment of the other pile or table in so doing.

To enable others to understand and utilizethe invention, I will describe one practical embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings; but I do not consider the invention restricted to such particularapfplicationthereof or tothe specific construction of parts illustrated in said drawin Vand therefore have set. forth in the clalms the essential features and novel combinations and novel constructions of parts for whichprotection is desired. In said drawings: v

Figure y1 isa diagrammatic side elevation of parts of the sheet `feedin and sheet delivery mechanisms of a mac lne for operating upon sheets, such as a printin press, showing the operative connections tween the parts pertaining to the present invention.

' shaft 31 being shown as driven I will explain the invention as applied to a Sheet printing press, and in the drawings have shown `so much and such parts of the press and the feeding and delivery mechanism thereof aswill enable those familiar with such machines to readily understand the invention, but the invention is adapted toa variety of other machines such as perfrating machines, and folding machines, and is not limited to use with any specic machine.

The sheet feeding mechanism, indicated at F, may be of any suitable or desired construction in'which the sheets are fed from a pile that is gradually elevated as the sheets are removed therefrom.' l

Sheet-feeding means such as shown and describedl in my Patentsl No. 1,146,929 and No. 1,146,930 dated July 20, 1915 may be employed, but any other suitable mecha nisms may be used for gradually raising the feed'pile of sheets as the sheets are removedv therefrom. y l A pile of sheets of paper S is shown as ,placed upon4 a board or platform 3 resting at its side margins upon angle irons 13z carried by vertically' disposed endless sprocket chains 3y which pass over sprocket wheels on a shaft 13 at the upper limit oftheir travel and lover sprocket wheels on a shaft 3 at the lower limit of their travel; .the Vby worm gearing from a shaft 3.

The pile of sheets Sis elevated from time `to time, to compensate for the reduction in the height of the pile, as the sheets are fed therefrom. As shown in my said patents a member 11, rotatin at uniform speed, carries a in 12 operatlvely engaging a slot ina lever 14 to oscillate the latter. Said lever 14 is connected by a link 3 to one arm Aof, a bell crank lever 3" upon whose other arin4 a 'pawl-carrier 18 is pivotally mounted, a'rfd a pawl 3s is p-ivotally mounted upon the carrier 18 and is adapted to engage a ratchet wheel' 3' on shaft 3". A spring 19 is arranged to normally hold the pawl-.carrier 18l in subh position-that the pawl 3B will be out of engagement with -ratchet wheel 3r and said s ring also upholds the normally idle pawlepressor 25 pivoted at 26, which is' adapted to be automatically operated at the proper time so as to cause the pawl 3S to engage the ratchet 3f; as explained in my aforesaid patents.

The parts of the feeder are so constructed and arranged (as explained in my aforesaid patents) that when the pile of sheets on support 3Z has been so far reduced in height as to require its bodily elevation to enable the feeding of the sheets therefrom properly to continue, a finger 28 is automatically moved into position to engage and hold the depressor 25 in position to cause the pawl 3S to engage the ratchet 3r and turn the same a slight distance so that its teeth will engage ratchet wheel 3f; and at such time the pawlcarrier 18 will be operated by lever 3t and rod 3 so that said pawl will turn the ratchet 3f; and as said ratchet 3r is fixed upon the shaft 3, the worm 3 upon shaft 3 will turn worm wheel 3P and shaft 3q in a direction to cause chains 3y to elevate the platform Bz to bring the upper surface of the pile of paper S to the proper level. When the platform 3z has been elevated the finger 28 is moved out of position to engage depressor 25 until the pile of sheets S has been again so reduced that it needs to be again elevated.

The fed sheets are paed to and through the operating mechanism, which may be of any suitable or desired kind, (being conventionally indicated as a press having a bed B and coperating cylinder C) and after being printed or operated upon such.4A

sheet is delivered in the usual manner, or by any suitable means, onto the receiving board or table of the delivery, indicated at D, and as the pile of delivered sheets S increases in height, due to the sheets dropping on this board, the top of such pile is automatically maintained approximately at the same level by means hereinafter explained. The board 3 may be removablyv mounted upon angle-irons 3all attached to endless chains 3b running over sprockets 3c attached to upper and lower shafts d and 3" journaled 1n bearings attached to the fra-ming; and said shafts may be operated by means of a worm gear 3f on shaft 3e engaging a. Worm 3g on a shaft 3h carrying a, bevel gear 3l meshing with a bevel gear 3j on a shaft 3", which is preferably operated by the pawl 3s, as hereinafter described, so as to lower the pile of sheets S on board 3 at the same speed as the pile of sheets S is elevated.

I preferably lower the pile S in the delivery from and by the means used to lift the ile in the feeder. For this purpose the sha 3, which operates the means for lowermg the receiving -table 3. is preferablv extended as indicated in Fig. 1. to the automatic feeder, and has on its end adjacent the feeder -a bevel gear 3l meshing with a corresponding gear 3m loosely mounted on the shaft 3. Loosely mounted on shaft 3n beside gear 3m is a ratchet 3W similar to and adjacent ratchet 3f. Ratchet 3W is fast to gea-r 3m and is adapted to be engaged by the pawl 3s when the latter engages the pawl 3F, so that when pawl 3s is operated both ratchets 3 and 3W will be operated thereby and shafts 3 and 3k will be simultaneously turned.

By this means the delivery table 3 is operated when the feed table is operated; and the delivery table 3 is lowered as and just in proportion to the upward movement of the feed table 3Z. In this way any possibility of the operator forgetting to lower the delivery table is eliminated and a great saving of printed paper is effected.

The sheet delivery table may be operated by hand, to either lower or raise the pile, without operating the feeder pile or disarranging the adjustment of the feeder mechanism; and when the operator desires to remove a pile of paper S from. the der livery table and wishes to ...lower this pile v onto a truck, he can do so without affecting the feeder pile S; or he can reload his feeder table and make the necessary'adjustments of the feeder pile S without disturbing the delivery table. For this. Vpurpose -fdouble ratchets 3f, 3W, are used with one common wideifaced pawl 3S which engages both -9 5 wheels.

The turning of either ratchet 3r or 3W does not effect the other, except when bothare simultaneously engaged and operated by the pawl 3S, at which time the delivery pile is l100 connected with the feeder pile through the pawl and ratchets 3r and 3W.

The feeder pile S is raised and the delivery pile S lowered automatically only when same are actuated by the mechanisms `upon in accordance with the depletion of the pile of sheets on fthe feed table 31; and table 3z and board 3 can be independently manually adjusted to raise or lower the pile of sheets thereon without affecting the adjustment of the other.

What I claim is 1. In combination a feed table; means for automatically elevating said table as sheets are removed therefrom; a table onto which the sheets are delivered after they have been. operated upon; means for automatically lowering the said board as the feed table is elevated; and means controlling the lowermg of the receiving table by the elevation of the feed table, said means including al pair of ratchets and a common pawl adapted. to simultaneously engage said ratchetsl 2. In a machine having means for elevat inga pile of sheets t0 be fed; andmeairs for lowering the pile of sheets delivered; adjacent ratoliets respectively adapted to operate one of saidi means, and a common fpawl adapted to engage and operate both ratchets. 3. In a machine having means for e 'evating a pile of sheets to be fed; and means for lowering the' pile of sheets delivered; 4a ratchet for operating each means located gadjacentand intermediate the feed and delivery piles', a common pawl adapted to engage both ratchets; and means for operating said pawl.

4. In combinatlon; a support for a feed -pile of sheets;4 means for elevating such support; a receiver into which the sheets are delivered after they have 'been operated means controlling the lowerin of the receiver by the means for elevating the su port said means including adjacent si e by side ratchets and devices for simultaneously operating said ratchets. n

5. In combination;a support for a pile of sheets to 'be fed; means for elevating such support; a receiver onto which 'the sheets areI delivered after they have been operated upon; means for lowering such receiver; and means for controlling the lowering of the receiver by the means for elevating the support said means including a. pair of adjacent side by side ratchets and common devices for simultaneously engaging ,and operating said ratchets.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I-aix my slgnature. f.

MICHAEL AQ DRorrcoUR. 

